I own the Mavic Pro and it is a great drone. It does have a return to home feature based on a GPS coordinate, which of course isn't useful on a moving boat. It also has a follow me feature which means it will follow your boat. But, to land it after launching it from your boat can be tricky, but possible. It is not safe to control the drone yourself and then catch it in mid air as you bring it back to your boat. One person operates the drone and another catches it. Much safer. You also, if close to land, establish a home GPS waypoint and when you are done taking your photos/video, then you can land it on land where your "home" was established. Probably a good idea to have someone there to pick it up so someone else doesn't pick it up and steal it.
Sailboats and drones
- Thread starter njlarry
- Start date
the DJI spark will do that. I'll let everyone know how it works after the weather improves here;-) They sell an orange target that could go on a foredeck or bimini that should be easy to train to.
I have a colored landing pad, but honestly, the boat is moving, and the drone stops and hovers before landing. As far as I know, the Mavic Pro will not land on the move. I don’t think the pad will work. The boat would sail forward as the drone hovers at 24” above deck, and the drone might then drop into the drink!
Honestly, I just fly to a spot above my head, reach up, and grab the drone drone below while shutting down the motors.
The drone goes to full throttle for a moment because it is trying to maintain its gps location, and I am synchronizing its movement with the boat. We do slow the boat, but it is still moving.
Honestly, I just fly to a spot above my head, reach up, and grab the drone drone below while shutting down the motors.
The drone goes to full throttle for a moment because it is trying to maintain its gps location, and I am synchronizing its movement with the boat. We do slow the boat, but it is still moving.
That is my experience too. It is a great drone, but it is programmed to protect the plane in spite of the pilot. DJI knows most crashes are pilot error.
And it's why in reality, most of this conversation is moot. They did not design this thing with moving sailboats in mind, (which is too bad). It's nice to know there's a safety net, per se, but it's pretty obvious that DJI is out to protect it from us, and in the environment that we use them in, there's plenty of whining on the net.
Appreciate the experience of all the drone pilots here. Can understand the drone assumes the landing area on the boat is stationery and be frustrated self landing. Would it be practical to hang a cord off the bottom of the drone, fly it back and grap the line just before a normal landing?
As an aside, after filming beautiful sunsets and spectacular beats to windward, can I also use it to inspect the masthead rigging? Also think it would be great to view the creeks and fields where we anchor.
As an aside, after filming beautiful sunsets and spectacular beats to windward, can I also use it to inspect the masthead rigging? Also think it would be great to view the creeks and fields where we anchor.
I use my phantom 3 pro to inspect the roof of the house. It's great as a I do or don't need to get up there tool, same would be for rigging.
I've logged hundreds of hrs with my various drones, and watch an equal number of hrs of idiots landing them at sea.
They were never designed for it, the catchers are ill equipped and the pilots, in most cases even less equipped.
These things will leave a permanent mark if the prop meets fingers!
BUT, the footage they capture is sometimes so amazing, I can see the attraction of dropping a grand into the sea
Remember that most cruisers rank drones right up there with jet skis. Tech we have no interest in.
Sounds like there is an open market for an entrepreneurial programmer.
Then there are the drones that sail.
-Will (Dragonfly)
Go for it. But appreciate that DJI changes their software about every 6 weeks and it's very far from open source. So things that you see on uTube about how to configure the things may, or may not apply in a month, and that the development curve is steeper than pc's were during the processor wars. Even the Mavic's that are here in this thread are current and a generation back.
Sounds like a good idea for a magazine article then. Maybe open with a description of how the world is no longer flat.
Write it.Sounds like a good idea for a magazine article then. Maybe open with a description of how the world is no longer flat.
There is a huge difference between not caring about tech and not understanding it. I have no interest in gaming or tweets either. Lots of people like PWC, but in the wrong hands they can be an immature pestilence. There is a parallel here.